![]() ![]() The pink rock face at Jeffers covers an area 50 yards wide and 300 yards long. Gradually thrust to the surface and rough-polished by glacial ice, a "canvas" was created that became a medium for the signs and symbols of ancient Native Americans. Geography and geologyīuried for millennia, the stone preserves evidence of ancient watercourses in the rippled surfaces of sand that were slowly solidified by heat and pressure. This long time span makes Jeffers one of the oldest continuously used sacred sites in the world, if not the oldest. The most recent were made about 250 years ago. The earliest carvings at Jeffers Petroglyphs were created as long as 7,000 years ago. To descendants of those who left these markings this is a place of worship, a prayer place, likened to other places of worship such as a church, synagogue, or mosque. To Native Americans who reside in and around the state, it is a very spiritual place - one where Grandmother Earth speaks of the past, present, and future. Such places are chosen to record visions, events, stories, or maps. To Native Americans, rock formations emerging from the earth provide a link between the physical and spiritual worlds. And for many cultures such places have deep spiritual significance. A sacred placeĪround the world, certain landscapes and geological formations have special qualities that make them stand out from their surroundings. These images have historic value because they provide direct evidence of cultural development in that they are a product of different traditions and spiritual achievements of the past. They have social and religious value to their creators and therefore become a part of the values of society in general. Today these images are understood and valued as a spiritual or religious expression of the totality of the human condition. For example, researchers have learned that generations of Native American ancestors who gathered at the red rock for nearly 7,000 years had an advanced understanding of mathematics, geometry, astronomy, and medicine. Reconstructing the meaning and significance of the petroglyphs, and surfacing their stories, has been a labor of patience, discovery, and dedication led by a team of archaeologists and Native American elders.īy studying the carvings, we can learn much about the culture and society of these ancient peoples. The arrival of Europeans on the continent eroded traditional Native American culture, including insight into the sacred that had been passed on for thousands of years. From 1875 to 1968, European settlers and descendants added their names. The most recent Native American carving was made around the 1760s. Its representation here may indicate a connection between the rock outcrop and the "below surface world." The glyph thought to represent a turtle, an animal sacred to many Native American groups, may reflect a relationship to the underworld. However, warrior societies among various regional tribal cultures were also known to wear such headdresses. Horned figures have frequently been interpreted by rock art researchers as representations of shamans. The multi-jointed wings in this glyph correspond to ethnographic descriptions from Dakota people recorded during the late 19th century. The image of the "Thunder Being," or Thunderbird, is a relatively rare one at the Jeffers site, appearing only three times. Also "missing" are glyphs representing horses, indicating that the site was no longer used by the late 1700s, although rock art from later times is prevalent. ![]() It is interesting to note that the stones do not record bows and arrows. ![]() By this technique, they appear to range from 5000 BCE to 1750 CE. ![]() The most common archaeological technique of dating the glyphs is identifying the items depicted, then relating them to peoples of a particular time period. Mysteries remain about what each glyph represents and about those who left them. These symbols, along with other images carved on the rock, such as thunderbirds and turtles, remain important in Native American culture. The glyphs serve many functions, including recording important events and stories, and depicting sacred ceremonies. Atlatls and darts were used to hunt bison before the bow and arrow were developed 1,200 years ago. Among the earliest carvings found here are images of bison and atlatls, or throwing sticks. The site preserves more than 5,000 Native American images carved into solid, horizontal, irregularly shaped Sioux quartzite outcrops. ![]()
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